Don't you love it when a book takes you completely by surprise? Usually when I see a cover design for a book with a butterfly and flowers on the front, it usually indicates the novel isn't going to be for me. I received an unsolicited copy of The World At My Feet by Catherine Isaac from the publisher back in January and it sat on my 'maybe' pile for a few months before I decided to give it a go. Boy was I wrong, I loved this!
Ellie is a social media influencer and avid gardener suffering from agoraphobia. Living in a granny flat behind her parent's home in the English countryside, she makes a living from her sponsored gardening posts on her highly successful Instagram account EnglishCountryGardenista.
I was interested to get to the root cause of Ellie's agoraphobia and when I did, I found I was fascinated by the topic and spent a few nights Googling post-revolution Romania. I remember the shocking footage that emerged in the 1990s showing the terrible living conditions within the orphanages in Romania and it was interesting to explore in this novel what might become of a child raised there.
Offsetting this dark beginning to Ellie's life, her gardening career was a sheer delight to read about and despite not having a green thumb, I really enjoyed following her around the garden and reading her Instagram posts in the book. Those hashtags were a great touch! And the dialogue between Ellie and young Oscar really warmed my heart.
Ellie's struggle to work through her agoraphobia reminded me a little of Amy in Everything Is Beautiful by Eleanor Ray; another case of 'don't judge a book by its cover just because it has flowers on it'. Lesson learned? Maybe not, but these books were definitely two exceptions to my 'rule' this year and both were impressive five star reads.
The World At My Feet by Catherine Isaac was a terrifically enjoyable contemporary novel with moments of character insight and inspiration and I was willing Ellie through as she lost her way and dusted herself off again.
You can seize this book at Booktopia.
